Pam Van Allen retires after 44 years

by colleagues in the Faculty of Science.

Today, family, friends and colleagues celebrate the contributions of Pam Van Allen to the University of Waterloo. After almost 44 years at the university, Pam is deservedly transitioning into retirement with a warm smile on her face.

In August 1970, Pam took on a position as secretary in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. By December 1974, she transferred to the Dean of Science Office, where she has remained to the betterment of undergraduate education in the Faculty of Science. During her contributions to the Science Undergraduate Office, Pam was promoted five times to her current position, Academic Services & Administrative Officer.

Commitment can be measured in many ways, one of them being relative time. Pam’s tenure at Waterloo has spanned the terms of 9 Canadian Prime Ministers, 5 Waterloo presidents, 6 Deans of Science and 7 Associate Deans of Undergraduate Studies. Responsible for admissions advice, undergraduate academic services, student advising, undergraduate calendar changes, and Science Undergraduate Office staff supervision, Science students have enjoyed Pam’s direct and indirect support throughout their undergraduate studies. In fact, 23,713 Science undergraduate students have graduated under her watch.

An equally important metric of Pam’s commitment is the respect she has garnered from colleagues across the university. Pam has facilitated significant improvements in support systems for Science undergraduate students, yet equally important, she has done this work with kindness, expert advice, deep institutional knowledge, calmness, laughter, and patience.



Those qualities in Pam were visible, as always, on April 1 when the Science Undergraduate Studies Committee met as usual on the first Tuesday of the month. A “Pam Van Allen Tribute” was the first agenda item after a photo (pictured above) and some refreshments. Marlee Spafford tried to represent the magnitude of Pam’s contributions at what would likely be her final meeting: hundreds of hours of meetings, over 1,000 votes, and meeting minutes which would have added to hundreds of thousands of words over the years. Her contributions went beyond quantitative values, they were also notable by the academic advisors and people in the room that earned their Waterloo degree(s) during Pam’s time in Science.

Pam has made the University of Waterloo and, in particular, the Faculty of Science a better place to work and study. Pam Van Allen’s supporters are warmly invited to celebrate Pam and her contributions to Waterloo today from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the University Club.

 

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WaterlooWorks process change update

by Stephanie Tortorici.

Co-operative Education & Career Action (CECA) is working towards implementing a new systems strategy. A major part of this strategy is WaterlooWorks, the system that will replace JobMine and integrate various applications that support co-op and career success.  WaterlooWorks will be introduced campus-wide in Winter 2015.

WaterlooWorks is a system from a vendor called Orbis Communications Inc.  Because much of the functionality of WaterlooWorks is different from the functionality of JobMine, we need to decide whether to change the software to match our processes, or to change our processes to match the technology.  These decisions are called “process changes”.

Four key process changes that have been top of mind for the WaterlooWorks team are:

• one free “no rank” per term: students can decide not to rank any one of their offers per term 
• code of conduct/work search intentions: students must accept a “code of conduct” that outlines their work search intentions before they will have access to the jobs on WaterlooWorks each term
• including salary in co-op job descriptions: an optional, free-format text field will be available for the employer to include salary or benefits information on co-op job descriptions.  Employers will also be able to provide specific information at time of ranking with their offers
• application limit: a decision to keep or remove the application limit that currently exists in JobMine has been deferred until more information about the costs and benefits of this process change can be analyzed

Read more about the process changes and the feedback gathered in regard to these process changes in the most recent edition of the Inside sCo-op or on the Systems Strategy website.

 

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Introducing Ila Berman, Architecture Director

a message from the Faculty of Engineering.

Pearl Sullivan, Dean of Engineering, is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Ila Berman to the position of O’Donovan Director of the University of Waterloo School of Architecture.

An architect, theorist, and curator of architecture and urbanism, Berman comes to Waterloo from CCA (California College of the Arts) where she was the Director of Architecture for six years. Originally from Toronto, she holds a professional degree in Architecture from Carleton University and a masters and doctorate from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Her research investigates the relationship between culture and the evolution of contemporary material and spatial practices.  In diversity and scale, her work ranges from the design of furniture and installations to research on cities and large urban landscapes.

“Waterloo Architecture operates at the intersection between design, culture and technology. It is part of one of the strongest engineering universities in the country, and will be at the forefront of the technological wave,” said Professor Berman.

She cites Waterloo’s multidisciplinary programs in mechatronics, computer science and systems design as fields of growing influence, and the space where engineering and architecture are most likely to converge in the future, with specific reference to new areas in architecture such as computation and parametric design, robotics, responsive systems, interaction design, rapid prototyping, and the advanced visualization of data.

At Waterloo, the School of Architecture plans to introduce new undergraduate and graduate degrees in Design – programs that integrate industrial and communication design with interaction design, a field that focuses on the design of interactive products, environments and systems. Through research and design “labs” and incubators, she is committed to growing industry partnerships in Canada’s tech triangle, in collaboration with the City of Cambridge and the University of Waterloo, and working with a larger network of global institutions to further expand the school’s internationalist perspective.

With plans to double enrolment (Waterloo Architecture currently receives 1,400 applications annually and less than 75 students are admitted following a rigorous interview process), Professor Berman intends to intensify expertise in response to four areas: technological innovation, environmental issues, globalization, and urbanization.

“Architecture, as a discipline, has changed dramatically over the last ten to 15 years,” she said. “New information and digital design technologies are going to radically transform the future of architectural practice in ways that we are only beginning to anticipate. The digital revolution is as important to this generation as the industrial revolution was in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

“We also need to give our students a broadened global perspective. To be relevant, our degree programs need to be linked to the real world so that we can actively participate in cultural evolution and exchange.”

It’s a philosophy very much in keeping with the university’s commitment to excellence and innovation, and Waterloo Engineering’s vision for educating for the future, with a focus on experiential learning.

“I am very pleased to welcome Professor Berman to the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Waterloo,” said Pearl Sullivan, Dean of Engineering. “A key outcome of education is to prepare next generations who can synergize knowledge to add value.  In the case of technology, the field is expanding and changing rapidly each day. New programs in digital design will stretch the envelope of what is possible.  Our educational mandate is clear: we need to teach people to think in new ways. ”

Berman succeeds Professor Eric Haldenby, who held the post of Director at Waterloo Architecture for 25 years, raising the school’s profile, as cited by AZURE, to one of the top 5 schools of Architecture in North America.

 

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Board approves student services fee increase

At last week's Board of Governors meeting, the Student Services Fee was changed, effective Spring term 2014.

The motion was put forward by Vice-President, Administration & Finance Dennis Huber on the recommendation of the Student Services Advisory Committee (a majority of whose members are students). The fee is developed in accordance with the Student Services Protocol approved by the Board of Governors in April 2014.

The fee increases are as follows:

 

	Current 2013/2014	Proposed 2014/2015
Undergraduate full time	$127	$134
Undergraduate part time (on campus)	$38	$40.20
Graduate full time	$108	$118
Graduate part time (on campus)	$32.40	$35.40

 

Services covered by the fee include Athletics & Recreation Services, Health Services, Centre for Career Action, Counselling Services, Student Success Office, Student Security Service, Art Gallery, OHD's Student Leadership Program, and AccessAbility Services - Accessible Transportation.

 

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